


when i'm coming back

by Aqua_Artist



Series: love like you [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Deadlock Gang, M/M, reaper gets mentioned but that's all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-26 23:33:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7594675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aqua_Artist/pseuds/Aqua_Artist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(A direct sequel to my previous work, i might be bad. Spoilers for that work follow.)<br/>In which Hanzo must fight someone he loves once again, and McCree isn't Genji.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. return

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I apologize for the long delay, especially after the cliffhanger I left you with. The day after I finished i might be bad, my phone died, and I've spent the last week getting a new one. I appreciate all of the support you've given me, and I've looked forward to having the time to write for this story again.

The sun rose up over Deadlock Gorge, illuminating the endless slopes of rock once again, and McCree was still gone.

McCree was still gone.

McCree was still gone, and Hanzo was forced to accept that.

He looked out over Deadlock Gorge. It lived up to its name; nothing he saw lived. There was no trace of McCree, nor of the gang, nor of what had happened. No trace of McCree’s betrayal.

He steeled himself, preparing to report back to Overwatch. How could he tell them what had happened? How could he force himself to remember.

He held the communicator in his hand, a live weapon.

He looked over the gorge, one last time. Willing McCree to appear.

Then he activated it.

“Agent Hanzo, this is Agent Mercy. Report mission status.” He readies himself, trying to hide his emotions, a skill he’s had control of all his life. He fails.

“He’s gone.”

“-What?” she asks, sharp, confused. (He realizes, much later, that this is the only time Mercy’s ever broken from Overwatch protocol.)

“McCree is gone.”

“Agent McCree,” she reminds him, and his fist clenches. The communicator nearly breaks. Maybe that would have been easier.

“No.”

“Explain what you mean by this,” she demands of him. A doctor’s order. Yet he cannot bear to remember, live through that pain again.

“Agent Hanzo,” and he snaps to attention.

“The payload arrived last evening,” he says, thinking only of the facts. (Not of how he had hurt. Not of the look on McCree’s face.) “Upon its arrival, McCree attacked me, then disappeared.”

“What do you mean by this?” she repeats. He knows she must doubt him. She and McCree had both fought in the crisis together. (Somehow, he still knows that this has hurt him more than it will hurt her.)

“I am forced to believe that, in doing so, McCree deserted Overwatch and rejoined the Deadlock Gang.”

There. That was it. That was everything there was to it. He was done. He would not explain what had happened further. It hurt too much, a strange and deep hurt. More than a desertion, a betrayal.

Thankfully, Mercy understood. (Even though he did not.)

“I am viewing the footage now. You are correct,” she says, in that doctor's manner of hers, so different from her normal self. It both comforted and unsettled Hanzo. “Do you have any understanding as to why he would do so?”

“You are the one who knows him,” he snaps, before he can stop himself. Even though he knows perfectly why.

“I do not, not in the way that Ana and Reyes did. But they are gone now. I am sorry, Agent Hanzo, but you are Overwatch’s best chance at bringing McCree back in. Do you understand what you must do?”

He nods, before realizing she cannot see him.

“Yes.”

“Do you know what you have to do if he refuses?” He stiffens. “I understand if you cannot do so.”

Kill someone he cared about. He knows what she means to say, but does not. He understands perfectly.

(This way, no one else has to feel the terrible pain he had felt, will feel.)

“I will do what is necessary.”

~

The assassin stalks his target; a dragon, slithering along the canyon walls. His bow is secure against his back. His feet scramble, silent, over the top. He crouches, unseen, scanning over the edge.

Jesse.

McCree’s there - out in the open, exposed. Hanzo grits his teeth. He knew he would come. Of course he did.

He looks at McCree - still wearing his red serape, a sitting duck - and feels relief, somehow, that he’s okay. How could he feel that way? Jesse had betrayed him! He hated him for that.

He shook his head - he wasn’t supposed to feel anything for this - and silently descended the wall, unnoticed.

“You’re going to ask me to come back.”

Hanzo freezes - caught midstep. Jesse hasn’t even turned to face him.

“But I can’t.”

He turns, but he’s in shadow. Hanzo cannot see his face. He’s a shadow, a ghost. How was this man the same as the one he had first met? How did Hanzo think he had gotten close to him?

“You know that.”

“And you know I cannot let you return to them. If you do, people will get hurt. People will die, Jesse.”

“Don’t care. You should understand that, shouldn’t you?”

I was hurt, he wants to scream, to attack. He does not.

He does nothing.

Then he draws his bow and his arrow, one-two, and - 

Freezes when McCree does the same.

This isn’t before. McCree is ready, willing to kill him. He knows that. He knows his arrows will never travel as fast as a bullet.

“A duel, then. Be here. High noon.”

With that, McCree throws a flashbang. Hanzo reacts, too slow, and is again stunned. And again, Jesse disappears.

A duel, then.

How can he do this again?

He ignores the pain in his heart.

He will take out McCree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A cliffhanger again... sorry! But at least I resolved one cliffhanger, right? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, or felt emotional about, the first chapter. Thanks, as always, for your comments and support! It's the reason why I write.


	2. duel

9:37.

It is 9:37. There are two hours and twenty-three minutes until the duel.

He stops pacing inside his (their) hideout. 9:37, and two hours and twenty-three minutes.

Two-hours and twenty-three minutes to stop the dread growing inside him. He needs to clear his mind. He needs to focus. He takes a deep breath-

-the Overwatch communicator rings-

-breathes out and picks it up.

“Hanzo,” he says, simply. (To hell with the communicator protocol - it didn’t matter.)

“Brother?” he hears, and startles, because it’s Genji, and Genji is worried, he can tell.

“Are you alright?” Hanzo does his best to forget himself.

“Yes- Hanzo, I don’t want you to do this!” he exclaims in a rush.

Hanzo freezes, deflates, gut-punched. As if he didn’t already understand the parallels. As if he didn’t already understand what it was like to-

“This is the only way.”

“I don’t care, brother, you can’t do this!”

“I have to.” He has to be steely, sure, in front of his brother. He’s grateful Genji can’t see his face.

“No, you can’t, even if he’s defected. I can’t let you!”

“Kill him. You cannot let me kill him.” His mouth tightens into a harsh, thin line.  
“-Yes,” Genji answers, voice shaky. Hanzo understands, then, and hates it, hates that his brother is still afraid-

“I don’t want - can’t see you go through this again, brother.”

Oh. Hanzo stops, breathes, thinks. His brother is worried for him. However, he cannot let that stop him.

“People will die because of him, if I do not take him out. An ex-member of Overwatch in a criminal gang cannot be allowed.”

“...I know,” Genji says, and Hanzo realizes that his brother has known that, but tried to stop him anyways. He tries to ease his brother’s pain.

“This is not the same. He betrayed Overwatch.”

“He betrayed you.”

-Click.

Hanzo turns off the communicator.

Why did his brother have to be right?

~

10:47.

One hour and thirteen minutes.

He’s hidden safely, in a niche that carved out the rock, watching with an assassin’s eye. Except he can’t be an assassin, not this time. A duel, a battle of honor.

He sees a flash of red - imagines it to be Jesse’s serape - remembers him leaning on his shoulder.

Hanzo is going to lose.

His brother is right. He can’t do this.

He can’t kill McCree, not with his huge grin and his dumb cowboy outfit, because he hated him, yes, hated him for the betrayal, but he also loved him.

He loved Jesse.  
But he has to do this. To protect Overwatch. He has to protect them, the ones who accepted him, trusted him.

He may care for, love, both of them, but McCree is not Genji.

Hanzo wills back his resolve.

He is not going to lose.

Hanzo regains his focus, staring out over the landscape of their dueling ground. He sees again, red, moving fast- he narrows his eyes.

He is not imagining. It is McCree.

10:51. One hour and nine minutes.

Why is he here?

There’s another figure, moving across the landscape. They’re only identifiable by black, in contrast to McCree’s red and the rust of the gorge. The Deadlock Gang.

He readies his bow, careful, but they’re much too far. He observes them. They’ve stopped, and he thinks they’re talking. His bow back, he climbs out of his vantage point, moving towards them. When he sees them again, the black figure has disappeared. McCree is there.

10:55. One hour and five minutes.

Why is he here? Hanzo asks of himself, again, but has no answer. But it does not matter why. He is there, in plain sight.

Hanzo readies his bow, lining up an arrow, then stops.

There is no honor in a shot like this, not when he has agreed to a duel.

He leaps down from his perch, landing, a graceful dragon, behind Jesse.

“McCree.” He announces his presence. His bow is ready, but he has not taken the shot.

McCree flinches-turns-draws, all in one movement. His face is wide in fear.

“You ain’t supposed to be here. Ain’t high noon,” he says, somehow managing to turn his fear into a snarl. Hanzo does not back down.

Then he sees Jesse has a dumb, stupid coffee stain on his serape, and he breaks.

“How could you do this? How could you betray me? I trusted you, and you attacked me!” McCree’s eyes dart around, searching, but Hanzo ensures he cannot escape. He reaches for a flashbang - Hanzo adjusts-releases-fires, and the bag is speared, flies behind him.

“Wait for the duel,” McCree commands, or tries to. He is afraid.

Hanzo has slotted an arrow into place. He refuses to give in, stares at Jesse. He is afraid.

“Please,” he says, and Hanzo understands why. It is the same fear he heard in his brother’s voice. He is not afraid of Hanzo. He is afraid for Hanzo.

Why? Why is he afraid for someone he means to kill?

Hanzo feels the bow, taut in his hands, and all his questions stop.

“There will be no duel.”

He knows the answer to the one question that really matters.

He will never be able to kill Jesse, because he loves him. Because he cannot hide his emotions. No matter how hard he has tried to, he cannot push them away.

“I cannot kill you. So take your shot.”

“-No,” Jesse says. He blinks in lack of understanding.

“Do it.”

They stand, frozen, each trapped, enhanced in the other.

“I can’t,” McCree says, “Just leave.”

Hanzo cannot. His honor - his emotions will not allow it.

“Take your shot.”

“I can’t. Hanzo, I-”

-Pain, fire, searing into his side, knocking him sideways, he’s flying, his whole body burns, he wonders, detached, if this is what his targets felt like when he struck them, he’s been shot, he can’t breathe-  
-His hand releases from the bow.

The last thing he registers is that his arrow is headed for Jesse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Another cliffhanger. Yup. Personally, this is my favorite so far! But don't worry, the final chapter will be up tomorrow, I promise. I can't promise anything that happens in it, though...


	3. alive

The first thing he registers is pain. Fiery pain, bursting along his side, and his head bursting open.

Hanzo is alive, then. That’s more than he expected, he didn’t think he was going to survive-

-Jesse.

His eyes burst open - it’s bright, everything is far too bright, and white and and clean. Where is he?

He blinks. The room comes into focus - someone’s standing over him. He tenses, before recognizing it’s only Mercy. She’s working with some sort of biotic tech. Hanzo relaxes; he doesn’t have to worry about that. He’s safe. In pain, yes, but with Overwatch, and alive, and safe.

Unlike-

“Jesse-” he breathes, scrambling upright. Where is he? Where is Jesse? Is he alright?

“Hanzo,” Mercy soothes, attempting to lean him back. He refuses. He will not rest, not pay heed to his pain. “I am glad you are awake.”

“Where is Jesse?” he asks, demands of her. She looks at him, looks down, weighs her options. She’s deciding what story to tell him. He hates it.

“Is he alive?” He feels a familiar, clawing desperation. A different type of pain.

“...Yes.”

A rush of relief. Jesse’s alive. He’s alive.

He’s alive.

Hanzo claws at his hands, as if trying to bring Jesse to him. He needs to see him.

“Where is he?” He needs to know. She still hasn’t told him.

A pause.

“We could only evac you. By the time we arrived, he had left the scene. We believe his chestplate…” 

Oh. Jesse’s alive, still alive, but he’s gone, still gone. Mercy kept talking, details, specifics, like that mattered. 

“...I’m sorry, Hanzo. I should never have sent you after him.”

No. It was not her fault. She did not know of how he loved Jesse.

He had failed his Overwatch.

He thinks he could disappear. He thinks he should.

-Then he hears the communicator.

“Evenin’, Mercy.”

The voice is static, crackling, half-there, but it’s Jesse’s. It’s Jesse.

“Jesse McCree!” Mercy yells, and Hanzo recoils. He suspected she had this fury inside of her, but hearing it chills him.

“...Ma’am. Please tell me you have Hanzo in one piece.” Oh. Jesse’s worried about him. He’s not sure if he’ll want to kiss or slap the man if - when - he sees him again.

“Yes,” she answers, sharp and harsh. “What are you doing!?” She’s tracking his location through the communicator, stalling for time. They must still be in America. (He never wants to come back to this place.)

“We-ell, I just took out all of the Deadlock Gang by teaming up with the criminal vigilante Reaper, and then neutralized him myself. ‘M ready for evac when you are! If you’ll have me back, course.”

What.

Hanzo could not have possibly heard, processed that correctly.

“What?” Mercy yells.

“Yeah, know you would never have approved. ‘S why I had to do it secretly. I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“The hell you are! Hanzo almost died!”

For a moment, Hanzo wishes he could have a say in this conversation, then decides otherwise.

“He wasn’t supposed to be there then. Damn it, I had no idea Reaper was going to attack him!”

“Don’t you dare go anywhere!” Mercy sighs, stomps off, presumably to go evac McCree.

So.

First, Jesse had been trying to atone for his past by destroying the gang, instead of rejoining them. That Hanzo understood well.

Second, he was worried about Hanzo. He hadn’t meant for him to get hurt. Hm. At least he was coming back.

Safe in that knowledge, Hanzo rests.

~

He wakes to the unfamiliar feeling of a hand clasped over his own. He opens his eyes - McCree.

Jesse’s there.

Jesse’s there, sitting next to him, holding onto Hanzo’s hand like if he lets go, Hanzo will vanish. It’s unsettling.

“I’m so sorry, Hanzo. I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you. You shouldn’t have gotten hurt. Not because of me.”

It’s unsettling, because it reminds him so of himself. Hanzo cannot bear it.

“Don’t.”

Jesse looks up at that, over at Hanzo. His face is wide in not fear, but shock. He hadn’t known Hanzo was awake to hear that, clearly.

“Hanzo, I-”

“Please, do not.” He clasps McCree’s hand in his.

“I - Why didn’t you take the shot? You had every reason to, from what you thought.”

“You could not understand.”

“Humor me. Tell me why.”

“What were you going to say?” Hanzo turns the tables.

“Before - Reaper shot you?” Hanzo nods, and Jesse blinks, looks down. He looks like he’s going to say it, confess, then shakes his head.

“I need to leave. I should never have taken this risk.” He’s utterly solemn, in a way unlike the Jesse he had spent the stakeout with would ever be.

“I’m sorry.”

He stands. Turns. Starts to leave.

Hanzo watches him. Sees him blame himself. Doubt if it was worth it.

Goddammit, he loves McCree, and hell if Hanzo will watch him go through the same pain he did.

He stands - or tries to - grits his teeth through the pain. (It’s already less than it was when he first woke up; he had no idea how Mercy worked her medicine, but appreciated it nonetheless.) He steps - shakily, then steadily. Jesse’s frozen in the doorway. Hanzo can’t see his face, but he doesn’t need to.

His hair is flattened slightly at the top, probably from his idiotic cowboy hat.

Hanzo loves this man so, so much, and he will not push those feelings away. He will not let Jesse leave.

A hand on McCree’s shoulder, binding them together. The touch is electric; tension crackles through the room.

“I am fine,” Hanzo declares, breaking the silence.

“No, it’s-”

Not his fault.

“I am fine,” he repeats, firm. “You protected the world today. You saved countless potential lives. And I will not stand to see you fuss over me. I understood what I got myself into when I joined Overwatch. Did you?”

“Thought I did,” Jesse answers. He’s almost mournful. “I didn’t understand there’d be someone like you.”  
“What is that supposed to mean.” It’s a declaration, not another question.

“Hanzo, you could have died. And because of me.”

“Look at me.”

No change.

“Look at me, McCree.”

Jesse turns. Hanzo looks up at him. Even in anguish, he is beautiful. Then he looks down. He reaches for the dent in McCree’s chestplate, exactly where he knew it would be. He wills McCree to understand.

Jesse reaches for Hanzo’s hand - takes it in his for a brief moment - then puts it down. Separating them. Jesse looks down; he does know.

“Then you know why I have to leave.”

“-No. You’re not going to.” Hanzo looks up at McCree; he reaches up, taking his head in his hand, forcing him to meet his eyes. “Because-”

Does he trust Jesse? No, he betrayed Hanzo, Hanzo loved him and he betrayed him, but he was trying to right his wrongs, and Hanzo understood that, so he does trust him, but that’s not all.

“I forgive you.”

“Why? Why would you?” McCree asks, incredulous, unsure. He doesn’t understand why Hanzo would forgive him. It reminds Hanzo, in a way that makes his heart tug, of how he had denied himself his brother’s forgiveness for so long. But love, of all kinds, doesn’t work that way. Hanzo hates himself for being so sappy, but he knows it’s true.

“Why?” He’s demanding, because if Hanzo tells him why, then he’ll have to stay.

Hanzo smiles, then. He knows why he forgives Jesse. He’s ready to tell him.

He closes his eyes, breathes in, breathes out.

“I love you.”

“-Hanzo?”

“Jesse McCree, I am in love with you, and I forgive you, and you need to forgive yourself because you are not going anywhere.”

“-Hanzo?” He’s a broken record. (It’s kind of cute.)

“I do not know how I would have gone on if I had hurt you, if anything had happened to you, but that is exactly why you have to stay.”

“-Hanzo?”

Hanzo opens his eyes.

Jesse’s there. Wide eyed, leaning into him. Reaching out for his hand.

Hanzo takes it.

“I love you, too.”

Hanzo blinks, breathes, his heart, disbelief, relief, joy, love, he has to push these feelings back, there’s so many-

No, he doesn’t have to.

“Promise me you’ll never leave again.”

Jesse nods, wordlessly.

Then Hanzo leans in, and-

Kisses him.

Kisses the man he loves.

~~~

“Where do we go from here?” Jesse asks. Hanzo does not know.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Naw?” he asks, again, in that stupid accent of his. Hanzo laughs, earning him a teasing glare.

“No. Wherever we go, we’ll go there together.”

Jesse smiles, then. Hanzo has no idea how he deserves Jesse, or his love. But here they are - together.

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, and for letting me share this story with you. This series, and my need for McHanzo, is definitely not over, but I'm quite happy with this ending! I hope you are too, and I'd love to hear what you think.  
> I did have another potential ending, where McCree...didn't survive, but this was the ending I wanted to tell. There's only so much angst my heart can take! But if anyone wants to read the alternate ending, or what happened on McCree's Deadlock-killing, Reaper-capturing, super-secret op, just let me know, and I'd be happy to write it!  
> Thank you for all of your support. Really. You're why I write. Because wherever this story goes, we go there together.

**Author's Note:**

> A cliffhanger again... sorry! But at least I resolved one cliffhanger, right? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, or felt emotional about, the first chapter. Thanks, as always, for your comments and support! It's the reason why I write.


End file.
